Obama administration tightens the screws on China again (NAFTA, weapon, Canada)

[stillkit]

The adminstration is taking on China across the board, in what could be considered economic warfare. Now, it includes re-opening a rare earths mine in California to prevent China from using their vast deposits as a weapon, as they've done with Japan.

I can't see how any of us wouldn't support that.



It's a deep pit in the Mojave desert. But it could hold the key to America challenging China's technological domination of the 21st century.

At the bottom of the vast site, beneath 6 metres (20ft) of bright emerald-green water, runs a rich seam of ores that are hardly household names but are rapidly emerging as the building blocks of the hi-tech future.
The mine is the largest known deposit of rare earth elements outside China. Eight years ago, it was shut down in a tacit admission that the US was ceding the market to China. Now, the owners have secured final approval to restart operations, and hope to begin production soon.

"We will probably never be the largest [mine] in the world again. It will be hard to overcome China's status in that regard, but we do think we will be a very significant supplier," Mark Smith, chief executive of Molycorp Minerals which owns the mine, told reporters during a tour of the site.

So far as the Obama administration is concerned, the mine can't open soon enough. A US department of energy report warned on 15 December that, in the absence of mines such as this one, America risks losing control over the production of a host of technologies, from smart phones to smart bombs, electric car batteries to wind turbines, because of a virtual Chinese monopoly on the rare earth metals essential to their production....

Rare earth metals mine is key to US control over hi-tech future | Environment | The Guardian

[desertdetroiter]

Hmmm....good.

[Backspace]

Yeah we really have China right where we want them.

[RandyWatson13]

Excellent move. We saw what China did to Japan in regards to its rare earths recently, they violated international law.

We need to show the world we can produce ON OUR OWN and we don't mind trading once we take care of HOME first.

[tinman01]

I can't fault Obama on this move. However, to say we are tightening the screws on China is a bit of an over statement.

[texdav]

Yep;that is why he sent Geithner to China not long ago to get assurances they would stop financing us.Rethoric like when he assured Canada during the campaign on NAFTA rethoric.

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by tinman01

I can't fault Obama on this move. However, to say we are tightening the screws on China is a bit of an over statement.

It gives the illusion that the US still has the upper hand and China has to fall lock step with our decisions.

We're really playing catchup here but it won't make headlines.

We throw our money away on liabilities. We don't purchase assets like China has been doing. Instead we'd rather go to war for the resources.

[TnHilltopper]

Originally Posted by stillkit

So far as the Obama administration is concerned, the mine can't open soon enough. A US department of energy report warned on 15 December that, in the absence of mines such as this one, America risks losing control over the production of a host of technologies, from smart phones to smart bombs, electric car batteries to wind turbines, because of a virtual Chinese monopoly on the rare earth metals essential to their production....

America fears that it will lose its ability to produce its own technologies, yet at the same time, everyone turns a blind eye to the 900lb gorilla in the room, oil. American society is 100% wholly dependent upon a single resource for the food it eats, to the cars it drives and the clothes it wears.

Don't get me wrong, its a good thing we are doing this with the rare earth metals mine, now if only someone had the stones to get serious about our energy policy.

[shroombeanie]

Originally Posted by Backspace

Yeah we really have China right where we want them.

Yeah. We really do. 'We' can't tighten the screws on someone when their holding the screwdriver. (post is in favor of your comment )

Originally Posted by TnHilltopper

America fears that it will lose its ability to produce its own technologies, yet at the same time, everyone turns a blind eye to the 900lb gorilla in the room, oil. American society is 100% wholly dependent upon a single resource for the food it eats, to the cars it drives and the clothes it wears.

Don't get me wrong, its a good thing we are doing this with the rare earth metals mine, now if only someone had the stones to get serious about our energy policy.

. And serious PERIOD would be a refreshing and productive change we could 'believe in'.

[Joe_Ryder]

That sounds good on paper but how are they to compete in the real world where China has more and can pull it out of the ground for a fraction of the cost?